bobzy

Our glorious nation always seems worse than any others though. No matter how many times people say "it's only the minority", "England fans get unfair press" etc., it's always England fans who are being Representatives for Wellingborough... ...and now we're doing it at home!

De Bruyne is better than Modric and is starting to have more of an influence than Modric, who has dwindled in the past couple of games (of course, still a fantastic player). Our goalkeeper is better. Our defence is better. Our striker is better. Croatia's only hope is that their midfield manages to take control of the game. If they don't, England will win. I imagine bookies odds are something like 5/4 England and 12/5 Croatia (and, yes, I know they take in account where money is going). They simply aren't a better side - let alone "only slightly better". (That isn't to say Croatia can't or won't win - they may well do, they're still decent.)

I'm not convinced anyone is coming in for Hogan or maybe Kodjia. Far too many doubts for the sort of money we'd want for them - I think that's part of the problem and why Grealish looks to be a certainty to leave.

The plan, of course, could be to sell our best players and bring through youth? I mean, not a plan that people would love, but a plan nonetheless...

Fo' real. **** telling me I have to use a days' holiday because England won the World Cup! I'd rather work the day after anyway I think. Everyone (most people) would be in a brilliant mood and sod all work would get done. Perfect.

Errrr.... no. Croatia's midfield is stronger - that's it. It would be more of an upset if Croatia beat England.

Yes, agreed... ...but we've got to sell players and can't buy anyone. Surely our situation is worse? Amusing battle to the bottom for both clubs, anyway ?

Can you please enlighten me and show me the posts that liken McCormack to Lionel Messi/even any sort of good player?!

Of course it’s poor management. The notion of having a well-run club was below having a rich owner, though. The chances of having it all are few and far between.

Is he not still on a rolling contract too? Last page was all about how he’s getting paid an absolute fortune. He seems passionate in his work, realistic with what he’s got to work with and appears to have the respect of the dressing room. TURF HIM OUT! **** me.

It’s a weird, cyclical situation. When Lerner left, many, many (I’d say most) fans wanted someone to come in and throw the cash around. I seem to remember specifically people wanting to be like Man City/Chelsea. Now we’ve spent too much and are having to sell our best assets. People will want the owner gone and a new owner to come in and throw the cash around. Let’s be the next Man City! Then we’ll have spent too much and need to sell our best assets. People will want the owner gone and...

I’m much, much, much more bothered about Villa than anything England do.

How so? We can’t spend money anyway plus are apparently under FFP scrutiny. Why is a transfer embargo worse?

Croatia looked good in the group stage but have been pretty poor since IMO. Not an easy game by any stretch, but I don’t think they’ll really trouble England’s defence. Bigger test than Sweden, but very doable. England vs Belgium in the final.

Meh, I'd quite like France to go through. As solid as Uruguay are, I'd like to see an attacking lineup of Griezmann, Mbappe and Giroud/Fekir/Dembele be further in the competition.

Midfield is pretty lightweight IMO. I think we're best out wide and upfront. Kane is obviously world-class, but Trippier and Young are pretty key to any success we may have. Henderson/Lingard/Dier/Loftus-Cheek/whoever is a pretty decent-standard midfield, but not as good as anything that Croatia/Brazil/France/Belgium and arguably Uruguay/Russia have.

We’ll agree to disagree then. England dived more and had as many weird headbutt attempts as Colombia. Aside from the referee harassment (as I’ve said many times) I’m not sure in what capacity Colombia were 10 times worse. Edit: @VILLAMARV probably sums it up pretty well in the above post.

Oh, completely unsporting. Same as Sanchez against Japan. Or basically any foul where a player deliberately stops another one from scoring a goal which happens a fair amount and isn't trotted out as 'cheating'*. I think Suarez' celebrating afterwards and his general "I'm a clearing in the woods" persona is why it gets picked up on a lot. I mean, he went down clutching his head the other night after (granted, being clattered from behind) being hit in his back. There was uproar. Henderson went down clutching his face after being hit in his chest/chin - literally no reaction. One was Suarez, one wasn't. (* - As an aside, I'd make every one of those cynical trips in the middle of the park when teams break an automatic red card too. Just as unsporting.)

"As bad as". ...and they were (aside from the harassing of the referee).

Always amuses me that Suarez is held up as having cheated for this. How did he cheat?! He stopped a goal-bound shot with his hand and got a red card. It’s not cheating. He didn’t con anyone to get an advantage (and it worked, so fair play).

We dived 3 times against Colombia (potentially 4 if you count Henderson clutching his face after being headbutted in his chest). I think that’s been more than any other side I’ve noticed. Harry Kane also played straight out of the Grealish/Snodgrass book of taking any touch and hitting the deck. But yeah, deffo the South Americans

The sentiment here is entirely fair - as above, they've been incredibly consistent this tournament and deserve to be in the QFs. However, the quote here over-exaggerates their achievements for me. "Dutch gone out in the qualifiers" - they drew 1-1 at home and lost 2-0 in Netherlands. "Italians in the playoffs" - fair, they did actually beat Italy 1-0 at home and drew 0-0 away. "Germans in the groups" - they lost 2-1 "6th ranked Swiss in last 16" - fair again, they won (with a deflected shot in a horrible game). To give the Swiss the gloss of "6th ranked" plays them up too much though. Scraped past N. Ireland in the playoffs and looked bang average this tournament. So, of the traditional big sides they've faced, Sweden have won 1, drawn 2 and lost 2 of the achievements they've had thus far. I like them, if they beat England I'd like them to win the World Cup, but they aren't any sort of scary side that has had a great run of giant killing at all.

I would have agreed after the Argentina game, but I actually think Croatia looked poor against Iceland and Denmark and scraped through both games. The only completely consistent team in our side of the draw is Sweden.

FWIW, I sort of agree. Kane is incredibly clever for the penalty - he basically grabs Sanchez' arm and pulls him with/into him then lets go and allows Sanchez to clatter into him. He did exactly the same against Tunisia (not given) so it's obviously a penalty-winning technique that he's working on. Not a dive, but initially a foul by Kane if anything. Maguire dived. Lingard dived. Young dived. Maguire deliberately went to barge into Cuadrado(?) fairly early on in the game - wasn't even looking at the ball - then got wound up when Cuadrado spotted it and did it back to him. Henderson nudged his head back into whoever it was late on in the game. There was a period where Colombian players lost their heads and probably should've seen a couple of red cards for giving the referee such a ridiculous amount of harassment but, that aside, England were just as bad as Colombia IMO.

Football, running, sweating/tired/whatever that is, love it.